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Sunday, 3 March 2019

While it may not look like much, I can assure you, highlighting and blending 30 Squigs is.

I've gotten the blue done on all 30, and as you can see, starting to paint the mouths on the first 10. I'm taking this 10 at a time, doing the gums and teeth, since I was starting to go bonkers painting 30 at a time. The blue may need some touch ups here and there, but for the most part the front row of squigs are done (the riders obviously need to be painted next). Thankfully the mouth and teeth are pretty easy and quick to paint, so I'm hopefully getting to the riders soon.

Still, even a picture such as this is unforgiving - I'm starting to notice all the little blotches, errors, bad blends, etc - I need to remind myself that these guys are meant for the gaming table.

Wednesday, 13 February 2019

After having almost completed the squigs in the planned colour scheme (at least the blue colour), I realised that I just wasn't happy with it. What looked pretty good on the smaller scale squig herd, looked a bit chalky and well, drybrushed on the larger squigs. So, realising that I wouldn't be happy with them, I decided to grab my brushes, colours, glaze medium and layer them all.

Unfortunately I've been held back by a nasty cold for the last 3 days, but before that I managed to get 12 of the critters to this stage, so it's doable - sure, it takes a bit longer, but this looks much much better, and is something I'm proud of showing people, rather than "well, it's a pretty nice result for how fast it is, right?".

Wednesday, 6 February 2019

There's no two ways around it. Painting battle line, especially lots of them, is boring to me. But I'm determined to actually get this army painted, so I've decided to batch paint every single squig in one round. This way I won't get tempted to "save one unit for later", since none of them will be finished if I don't paint them. Seeing as I've managed to get them ready for the two final highlights in two nights (about 6.5 hours = 13 minutes pr Squig so far), I'm keeping a pretty good pace. My plan is to get in at least an hour or two every night, and I'll hopefully have them done at the end of the month.

Sunday, 3 February 2019

Hi guys - although it's been a busy weekend, I managed to get a few hours of hobby time this sunday evening, where I got to work on my (Privateer Press Hordes) Trollbloods Mountain King, that had been sitting in dishwash and water for some hours.

I really like the idea of a giant troll being a hero in this army - but I just don't like the aesthetics of the Dankhold Troggoths, and the Forge World Troggoth Hag looks bad - in a bad way. I really don't like that miniature at all. However, the size and the concept (rules and abilities) were cool, so I decided to make something out of the Mountain King, which I've liked since I first saw it. Privateer Press are weird in that sometimes they make amazing miniatures, other times they look like... Well, poo.

Anyway, this is a great miniature. The size, the pose, and the details. Great cast too. There are a ton of gaps to fill on the rocks on his back, but this is pretty easily done.

The idea is that Murr-Loon, da mighty Shroomwizard, advisor of Arr-Durr, has somehow magically tamed this gargantuan troll, and rides the troll into combat (hence the magic abilities). The Troll throws rocks in every direction (6 vomit attacks, at 10") and hits very very hard (bulk and fist attacks).

I won't be doing too much to this miniature, as I really like it as is. I need to figure out exactly how to make the shaman stand of the shoulder of the troll (I imagine him holding a chain, bolted to some of the rocks?), remove the last of the troll whelps emerging from the trolls skin, and figure out how to make some ears.

First the photoshopped concept sketch:

Here he is (excuse the lump of blu tac holding his head into place while the green stuff is drying):

And here you can see a close up of the face; Trollbloods don't have noses, which make them look very distinctive; this I needed to remedy, so I used a spare nose from the Rockgut kit, and modelled it onto the face - still needs greenstuffing, which I've tried to emulate with Photoshop here - I'm still pondering what I'm gonna do about ears though - any ideas? (Rockguts and River Trolls are a bit too small for this) - but his new nose makes him look much more like he belongs in the Warhammer universe:

Saturday, 2 February 2019

I've always liked the idea and concept of Giants and I wanted to include at least one in my Gloomspite army - but I had to do something with it, both being a compulsive converter, and wanting it to fit into the Mushroom theme better.

It didn't take long before I began to get this idea of mushrooms infecting a living creature (a bit akin to that horrible fungus thing ants can contract), and an idea of the model began to form.

I took the most mindless head from the gargant kit, reposed the legs to make them look more zombie-stagger-like, and attached a bunch of mushrooms to his body and back (including the top of his head, them coming out of his brain - ew!)

Being completely Shroom-Zombified (totally a word), he needed a grot minder, giving him orders, and his own little lookout barrel. I'm really digging the vibe of this guy. :)

Wednesday, 30 January 2019

Alright, no more excuses. I'm terrible at this blogging stuff. I'm a lazy painter, I only paint/build/convert when I feel like it, and there can be anywhere from a day to a year between updates. Oh well - it's a hobby, so I'll just do it whenever I feel like it. And now I feel like it. :)

I haven't done much hobby related stuff since my last updates. However, upon seeing the amazing new gloomspite gitz, I couldn’t help but start a new Squig themed army.

The army will be as follows;

LEADERS

LoonKing Arr-Durr: Loonboss on Mangler Squigs (300)

- General

- Command Trait : Fight Another Day

Da Wizard MurrLoon on da Walking Castle: Troggoth Hag (380)

UNITS

Da Squierz: 5 x Squig Hoppers (90)

Da Uvver Squierz: 5 x Squig Hoppers (90)

Sir Gawaaagh and da Knightmares: 10 x Boingrot Bounderz (200)

Sir Perciwaaagh and da MidKnights: 10 x Boingrot Bounderz (200)

Da Horsies: 6 x Squig Herd (70)

3 x Rockgut Troggoths (160)

3 x Rockgut Troggoths (160)

BEHEMOTHS

Aleguzzler Gargant (160)

BATTALIONS

Squig Rider Stampede (140)

ENDLESS SPELLS

Scrapskuttle's Arachnacauldron (50)

total: 2000 pts

I’ve bought, cleaned, assembled and based everything, except for the second unit of trolls and the troll hag (which will be converted from at WM/H trollbloods mountain king (on it’s way - it's gonna be cool, a shaman riding a giant stone troll to war - Merlin riding Camelot), and I’ve spent the last week trying out some different paint schemes. I have an unfortunate tendency to be way too ambitious with my painting, which results in my projects ending up infinished, so I’ve lowered my standards a bit, finding solace in the idea of “finished is a quality in itself”. 😊

Another dogma; almost every army or warband I've ever done has been muted, natural hues, not quite Blanchitzuish, but in that vein. While I think it's a great look, and I like the gritty realism, they just don't "pop" out on the table, and I wanted to try to do that for this army - therefore I wanted to try out a really vibrant colour scheme that would go POP on the table.

Above is the first finished unit. The blue is quite quick (about 20 minutes pr squig, being mostly drybrush and washes), the teeth taking a bit longer and the green on the grot being a bit time consuming as well, but I’m aiming for about 40-50 minutes pr Battleline model as a goal.

Wednesday, 18 July 2018

Yup, usual excuses - band's been busy, being a houseowner, work, wife, etc - and most of all, just not being inspired. Anyway, GW's doing a Kill Team - and while the teams look very bland to me at the moment, that's not stopping me from doing a cool project I've been wanting to do for a few years - Ork Pirates! I know that they sort of divide people, some people think they're stupid, some think they're awesome - IMO, if any race should have pirates, it must be orks. Without further ado, very much WIP, I bring you...

Kaptin Jakk SparrOrk and his Freebootaz!

Kaptin Jakk SparrOrk, Gibbz and Hectork:

Da Cannoneers:

Da Powdermonkeys:

Ol' Clanka:

Not shown yet is a Stormboy conversion. More to come soon, hopefully. :)